At first glance this DVD may seem a little short on extra features, but for fans of Eminem's music, the sound presentation is gut-wrenchingly good, and there's a featurette on here that will blow fans away.

TECHNICAL FEATURES

Picture Mean and moody, the often dark and smoky picture is transferred to disc detailed and sharp.

Sound Eminem fans never had it so good, with not only a mean Dolby 5.1 sound mix, but also a fearsome bass monster of a DTS mix to choose from as well. We trust that we won't need to tell you to turn it up.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Making Of Ten-minute 'making of' featurette? Hmm, looks suspicious - could be cheesy. Actually it's not bad, with Eminem discussing the title of the film: the "8 Mile" that separated white from black in Detroit, and on what personal experiences are wrapped into the movie.

Exclusive Rap Battles Eminem fans will freak out over this 23-minute featurette. It came about due to the fact that the 350 extras were beginning to flag on set. They'd be standing there every day, in smoke and dark, wearing winter clothes, and were losing their enthusiasm as a result.

So, it was decided to hold a rap battle contest, with three winners going on to perform in an unscripted scene opposite Eminem. One hundred and forty people applied out of the audience, and with only slots of 15-seconds each to impress, plenty of them fit into this exciting featurette.

The best part comes when the finalists get to do battle with Eminem, with the problem that as he's losing his voice, he's asked to mime to save it, as the sequence will be silent in the movie. He follows along with this but once the audience begins jeering, a very real "8 Mile" and a glimpse into the Eminem that made it to the top from the gutter, begins to emerge.

Additional Extra Features Also on the DVD is a 'Music of "8 Mile"' menu, allowing you to go straight to the musical numbers of the movie; a web access feature for DVD-ROM enabled computers; an Eminem music video; and a trailer.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Chapters: 21
Ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1
Audio Tracks: English and Magyar
Subtitles: English and Magyar
Captions: See subtitles
Menus: Animated, with music.
Special Features Subtitles All of the special features come with subtitles apart from the "Superman" music video.

This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-N5 DVD player.